Tuesday, 28 February 2017

Once again, I've been working in my thin paged notebook to take part in Challenge 6 for Junk journal junkies; Red, White, Blue and Lips. For once I decided to try using paint even thought the pages are so thin that I usually glue three together between art journal layouts. I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

Monday, 27 February 2017

I must admit, looking back on photos of cards that I have made in the past, I can tell that I wasn't the confident card maker that I feel today. I tended to slavishly attempt to recreate ideas that I had seen in magazines or online. Nowadays, I may look to other people for inspiration, a jumping off point or to explore a new technique, but I always want to put my own twist on an idea. To illustrate, I thought I'd share some cards from way back in the past; apologies if I no longer know the names of the original designers. They are based on cards that I saw created in Craft Stamper more than two years ago. Thanks for the inspiration, but I feel far more confident these days. If anyone ever wants to use one of my designs for inspiration, you are more than welcome to. I am happy to give back to that generous crafting community who have helped me so much over the years.

IndigoBlu Poppies

Larger version of original with a different sentiment; starting to get adventurous!

Thanks so much for your inspiration, ideas and talent. I would never have got started without your examples to inspire me.

Sunday, 26 February 2017

I was in a card making mood today, so decided to get out the Bird Crazy stamps and dies to use with a large Hero Arts background stamp with lots of speech bubbles. I intend to use the tag line in the card 'A little birdy told me... it's your birthday.'

Saturday, 25 February 2017

I admit I did a google search for quotes which included the word stillness when I saw the prompt for week 8 from Journal52. As soon as I found this Eckhart Tolle quote however, I knew exactly what I was going to do on my page.

Thursday, 23 February 2017

I decided to have a play with no particular end point in mind and created this master board. It will probably be cut down into smaller backgrounds for card making, but I will be using this technique again in my art journaling I am sure.

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

Hello and welcome to the weekly sharing of the workdesk! To find out more about this blog hop hosted by Julia, visit The Stamping Ground. It's half term this week, so I have had a little more time to craft and share. This week I have also made sure to include my friend's side of the desk; although our weekly get together was on Monday this week rather than the usual Tuesday.

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

The prompt for this journal page was purple, blue, silver and diamonds. Initially I was thinking of using 'diamonds are a girl's best friend' as the tag line, but as you can see, I went in another direction. I have
no idea what made this catch phrase come into my head. I was too young
to drink when the adverts were on TV back in the 70s, but once it was in
my head, there it stayed.

Monday, 20 February 2017

I had been asked to produce a few more cards suitable for men or boys, so decided to make a card which is masculine, but could also be given to a female gardening enthusiast. It was great fun to make, especially adding colour to the herbs, pot and vegetables using my water brush and distress inks.

Sunday, 19 February 2017

I have had this notebook on my shelf for over five years and have never done anything with it. I decided to use it as a junk journal as it has very thin pages and I wasn't sure whether it would take too much in the way of wet media. I have recently been introduced to the Facebook group Junk Journal Junkies who host a weekly themed challenge. This was just what I needed to take the plunge. This week's theme was teal, brown, gold and circles.

Saturday, 18 February 2017

As soon as I saw the prompt for this, I immediately had the song from the musical 'Hair' in my head. It didn't take long to decide what the layout would be. I tried out my new collection of Aqua Tints for the background; gorgeous colours which go a long way!

Friday, 17 February 2017

There is nothing that makes you feel quite so old as one of your children taking their first driving test. Mind you, once number two son gets his own car, he will be able to start chauffeuring me around for a change. Unfortunately he takes after me and managed to fail his test right at the end! I only hope that getting this card ready in advance wasn't a jinx. He's already booked the next one, so better luck next time.

Wednesday, 15 February 2017

So here we are again for another WOYWW hosted by Julia (to find out more about it check out HERE). It seems like such a long time since last week. Thanks for everyone's best wishes; number three son is out of hospital and on the road to recovery. Yesterday was as usual the source for the photograph; apologies however, as I totally forgot to take a photo of my friend's side of the desk. As you can see, I was working on an art journal page following the prompt 'Dream' set by Journal52. I had used a mop up page as the background and actually added very little to it (for full Step by step and finished piece see HERE). I used some of my Clarity stamps and you can see one of my stamp binders in the foreground.Here is a close up of my mug: the message says it all! A happy WOYWW to you all; next week is half term, so I may have a little more to share.

Tuesday, 14 February 2017

This page was completed in world record time; 20 minutes from start to finish including drying time! It did help, that the entire background was already complete, as I used the mop up sheet from the tag which I made at the weekend (see HERE for step by step). I am finally keeping up with the weekly word prompt set by Journal52 and I'm loving every minute.

Wednesday, 8 February 2017

After the momentous anniversary last week, it seemed only fair to keep going. I might not have been with this group since the start (unlike our host Julia over on The Stamping Ground), but I am enjoying joining in each week. Once again, I'm sharing the desk on my crafty Tuesday session with my friend.

Tuesday, 7 February 2017

For the Mission Inspiration February 2017 challenge I chose the word Family from the five word prompts. The others were Crush, Relationships, Love and Affection. I don't have a printer at the moment, so couldn't print off any photos of my own family, but then I found a set of stamps which I felt would fit the colour scheme (black, teal and red) as well as the quote 'The Family is one of Nature's Masterpieces'. Unfortunately my camera battery failed and wouldn't recharge towards the end of the project, so the last few steps were photographed on my mobile phone. Apologies if the clarity isn't so good.

Sunday, 5 February 2017

Three art journal pages in less than a week; that's a record for me. To be honest though, none of the pages have taken me more than a couple of hours from start to finish (not counting drying time), and the ideas have come thick and fast. This page 'Anticipation' is in honour of my brother, who will be visiting the UK from his home in Canada in a short while, for only the second time in over a decade. I can't wait to see him, even though we keep in touch via Skype.

Saturday, 4 February 2017

I am really starting to enjoy working with a one word prompt. For this page I went with a quote from the Tim Holtz idea-ology Small Talk sticker book; 'Listen to your heart, it will show you the way.' It seems to sum up my new approach towards art journaling. All the stencils and stamps that I have used are by Claritystamp, so I am entering this into the February Clarity Challenge; the theme is Flower Power.

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Well it's a really special WOYWW today hosted by Julia over on The Stamping Ground. This must be the longest running weekly blog hop in history and I am delighted to be participating in such a milestone event; not my 400th contribution by any means. I am sharing some tidying that I have been doing as well as my workbench as per the title.